Dr. Nick Cassisi---medical leader on many fronts---named to University of Miami Hall of Fame

University of Florida physician-administrator Nicholas J. Cassisi is one of two University of Miami School of Medicine graduates admitted into the school’s Hall of Fame on May 11.

Cassisi, who earned his M.D. degree at the University of Miami in 1965, is senior associate dean for clinical affairs at the UF College of Medicine. He also is the Kenneth W. Grader professor of otolaryngology at UF, and chief of staff for Shands at UF and Shands at Alachua General Hospital.

The University of Miami honored Cassisi for his many contributions to medical administration and to advancements in medicine, especially in his specialty of head and neck surgery. His textbook, “Management of Head and Neck Cancer: A Multidisciplinary Approach,” is used by physicians nationwide. He also is widely known for his expertise in head and neck reconstructive surgery, voice and swallowing disorders, and diseases of the trachea and larynx.

Cassisi is an active member and former president of the American Society of Head and Neck Surgery, a member of the American College of Surgeons’ residency review committee for otolaryngology, and a longtime member of the American Academy of Otolaryngology.

In addition to his M.D. degree, Cassisi holds a D.D.S. degree from Case Western Reserve University. After residency training in general surgery and otolarynology, and two years in the U.S. Army, he joined UF’s medical faculty in 1973 and three years later became chief of the division of otolaryngology. He was appointed chairman when this division became a department in 1991.

Cassisi and his physician wife, Elayne Cassisi, M.D., who practices psychiatry in Gainesville, were the first husband and wife team accepted into the University of Miami’s medical school in 1961—at a time when there were only eight women in the freshman medical class. They graduated together in 1965.